The Romans Road Gospel - Part 4

God created us to be in a loving relationship with Him. Unfortunately, that relationship was severed when mankind fell into sin (Genesis 3). God knew this would happen and already had made a plan to forgive our sins and to restore our relationship with Him.

The book of Romans details God’s plan for salvation - “the Romans Road.” Each of us must walk this road. The road leads us to receive forgiveness for our sins. That forgiveness allows us to experience a loving relationship with God during our lives and to spend eternity in His presence.

The first step on the Romans Road shows that we need salvation because each of us has violated God’s law. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We can never merit forgiveness for our sins; therefore, we all need a Savior.

The second step further explains our need for salvation. The sin that severed our relationship with God has eternal consequences, “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Death symbolizes both the misery that sin causes during our physical lives and the eternal misery experienced as punishment for our sins.

The third step shows the infinite nature of God’s love. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

“For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).God did not wait for us to deserve salvation through obedience to His Law. He knew we were “helpless” and could never earn our salvation through works so He provided for it by His grace. The crucifixion of Jesus redeemed us from our sins (1 Peter 1:18-19).

Not only are people “helpless” to redeem themselves but we are not even seeking Him (Romans 3:11) and many are hostile towards Him (Romans 1:21). Paul describes how God expressed His love for us even though we did not love Him, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son,” (Romans 5:10).

We are reconciled to God – Jesus died for our sins, allowing us to restore our relationship with God. Jesus’ resurrection made possible our salvation. “Much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” Romans 5:10. We are saved from eternal punishment at our death. In our mortal lives, Jesus also leads us in the process of sanctification. Sanctification is the process of becoming more like our Savior as demonstrated by our obedience to God’s Law.

We all are sinners. Our sin prevents us from being in a loving relationship with God, our Father in heaven. We cannot restore the relationship ourselves. Therefore, Jesus came to earth to die for our sins to restore our relationship with God. The next step on the Roman Road instructs us on how to benefit from Jesus actions on our behalf. The future benefit of eternal salvation and the present benefit of sanctification.